Pornography
5
'Any violation of a woman's body can become sex for men; this is the essential truth of pornography.'[1]
From reading the texts of last week and Anais Nin's Delta of Venus this week, it is clear that pornography is only linked with female objectification. While rape is understood as violation of a body, what Andrea Dworkin tells is us that even intercourse is considered to be a violation of a woman's body; 'Violation is a synonym for intercourse.'[2] Dworkin talks of the innate biology of a women's vaginal opening being penetrated during intercourse. For a woman it is considered, 'a violative abuse...her selfhood changed in a way that is irrevocable, unrecoverable.' This notion of 'unrecoverable' can be linked again to a woman's biology that consists of a hymen that is broken during the first time of intercourse.
This violent notion of violation can be seen in the story of Mathilde where a man begins to insert a knife into her vagina during intercourse. This is not only sexual assault but could be seen as a comparison between a man's penis and a knife. Nin also frequently refers to intercourse as a violent assault from the man, stabbing her with his sex. Pierre tells Elena, that he likes to see how he stabs her while having intercourse with her. This all shows how women have always been dominated through intercourse.
This may be due to the fact that, 'the hatred of women is a source of sexual pleasure for men in its own right.'[3] Reminiscent of Germaine Greer[4], this explains the violent, torturous side to intercourse and rape. It is worth noting that even men have raped men purely as a form of domination and not sexual pleasure.
Dworkin mentions the fear of intercourse that renders women silent, another issue that MacKinnon also addresses as female victims of pornography who testified in court were harassed; silencing others. The eroticising of power has become so great that pornography create artificial rape scenes using words such as 'reluctance' and 'force' to entice men to consume their material[5]. Due to this, women have become so far removed from pornography that they feel threatened by it. However, Anais Nin aims to rectify this through Delta of Venus, similarly E.L. James tries to do this through Fifty Shades of Grey. However, the entire nature of pornography must change in order to avoid female abuse not just through this medium but also for intercourse as a whole.
[1] Andrea Dworkin, "Occupation/Collaboration" in Intercourse (New York: Basic Books, 2007), p. 138.
[2]Dworkin, p. 121.
[3] Dworkin, p. 138.
[4] Germaine Greer, “Loathing and Disgust” in The Female Eunuch (London: Penguin, 2010), p. 279.
[5] Tasha Mathur & Charley Dunlop, 'Will A Ban on Porn end gender stereotypes? <http://www.voice-online.co.uk/article/will-ban-porn-end-gender-stereotypes> [accessed 31 March 2014].